According to Vice-President Megan Tam “Our survey again confirms a unique reality about the Super Bowl: more people will seek out and watch the ads than the game itself. Can anyone name any other circumstance in which the advertising gets a bigger audience than the broadcast?”

Nationally, one in four considers themselves avid fans (9%) or occasional followers (16%) of NFL football. Men (36%) are more likely to be avid fans or occasional followers than women (16%).

One in three (33%) Canadians plan to watch the Super Bowl this weekend. Fully 93% of avid fans plan to watch the Super Bowl as do 78% of occasional followers. Even among those not really interested in NFL football, 15% intend to watch the Super Bowl.

Men (44%) are twice as likely as women (22%) to say they’ll watch the Super Bowl.

Nationally, opinion is split on who will win the Super Bowl. 32% of Canadians pick the Denver Broncos to take the Championship versus 31% who pick the Seattle Seahawks to win. However, a majority of avid fans (57%) are picking the Broncos to win, while 43% are picking the Seahawks. This split is less pronounced among occasional followers of football (48% vs. 40%).

Residents of BC are more polarized: 55% pick the Seahawks to win versus 15% expecting the Broncos to win the game.

As we have seen in the past, the commercials are a big draw to the Super Bowl. Nationally, 46% are hoping to see the Super Bowl ads. Even among those who do not intend to watch the game, one in three (33%) are hoping to see some of this year’s Super Bowl ads. Seven in ten (70%) of those intending to watch the game are also hoping to catch some of the ads.

When considering those not really interested in NFL football, 38% are hoping to see the Super Bowl ads. The desire to see these ads is even more pronounced among avid fans (81%) and occasional followers (61%). At a topline level, these numbers remain relatively unchanged from a year ago when 48% were hoping to catch the Super Bowl ads.

Watching the commercials online is now how Canadians plan to watch some of the Super Bowl ads: 45% intend to access them online. A further 34% intend to catch the ads during the game itself, while 15% intend to watch them on television at some other time.

There has been a shift over the last two years in how people intend to watch these ads. In 2012, one in three(33%) intended to watch the ads online, while 20% planned on watching them on television at some other time, and 43% intended to watch them during the game itself.

Data was collected using computer assisted telephone interviewing (CATI) via the Harris/Decima teleVox omnibus. Overall, 1,010 completes were collected nationally between January 23 and January 27, 2014. The sample consists of 80% landline and 20% cell phone respondents, with quotas by gender (50/50 split) and by region. The data is weighted in tabulation to replicate actual population distribution by age and gender within region according to the 2011 Census data. This survey is considered accurate to a margin of plus or minus 3.1 per cent, 19 times out of 20.